The importance of treating outgoing employees as "business alumni"
A former member of a group, company, or organization.
One of the most rumored topics in the business world is worker treatment and their identification as company ambassadors. But for many, such a strategy applies only to existing workers, those who are engaged in daily tasks, or are involved in different projects.
According to a study done by Penn State University, such treatment should also apply to leaving workers. They advise that all companies, including large-denominated million dollar corporations, should maintain good relations with their dismissed workers or with those who have announced their departure. Sumita Raghuram, a professor of human resources management at Penn State, explains that while studying the relationship between manager and employee, most businesses assume that such a relationship ends in the event of a worker being dismissed. She adds that such a view should be extended beyond the boundaries of employment within the organization.
A healthy employee relationship with the boss or supervisor in the work can bring a good will to the next job, a will that can benefit both sides. These former employees, who in business jargon have started to be called "organizational alumni", can serve as ambassadors of the company. Thus, a good inter-business relationship creates a familiarity between dismissed employees and the company where exactly these employees can be your future customers or can be the basis for new business knowledge in the market.
Professor Raghuram adds that it can not be ruled out that these workers are again engaged in one way or another within the company. Such employees, called "boomerang workers", are leading to a steady growth trend due to their low recruitment costs and the skills and knowledge gained from other jobs. The most popular example of this category is Apple's co-founder, Steve Jobs, where he left the company in 1985 to return to 1997 as a revolutionary of today's technology.
One way to increase goodwill between the company and outgoing workers is to create a strategy for such cases. When an employee wants to leave, it is essential for the company to show effort to create more favorable conditions for the employee. Part of the strategy should also be a genuine allocation of the acquired skills of employees over the years when as a result of a good relationship with their bosses has resulted in improved skills.
Employees, whether they are away or not, offer unique opportunities to build a system of co-operation and promotion of the company. All of these are part of a perspective that helps achieve the company's objectives, which can be easily achieved if an employer-employee relationship is built on the basis of gratitude for mutual work.
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I couldn't agree more with this sentiment. When I set up my new company, now a good many years ago, I called on a network of people I used to work with to help me. Maintaining those friendships systematically can be important for a company for sure.